What, after all, is Philology in Brazil?

Meanings, Practices, and Institutionalization in the 21st Century

Abstract

This article examines the current state of Philology and Textual Criticism in Brazil since the early 21st century, analyzing their practice within postgraduate programs and their boundaries as a scientific field. Departing from the polysemy of the term "Philology"— which oscillates between a broad sense and a strict sense — the study investigates how Brazilian universities have organized research in this area and their strategies to disambiguate the term. The analysis reveals institutional challenges, such as the absence of Philology as a formal subfield in the CAPES classification system and its dispersion between Literature and Linguistics programs. While Philology stricto sensu engages with History and Linguistics, the paper argues that its methodological core lies in the faithful editing of texts, distancing itself from outdated notions like Philology’s "transcendent function". Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1983) reflections on scientific fields, the study advocates for Philology’s consolidation as an autonomous discipline, aligned with contemporary demands — such as curating texts that foreground counter-hegemonic, antiracist, and feminist perspectives.